Evolution 01: Electric Knights
by Midnight Sun
Summary: An AU continuation of 01. During their travels, trials and tribulations a group of children were forced to grow or die. They were forced to do things that no child their age could possibly understand, let alone comprehend. Now they have returned to their
1. Then and Now

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Digimon. It is the sole property of its respective owners and creators.

Quick Author Note: Whenever you see *** this signifies a change in POV. Tread carefully.

**_Chapter 0: Then and Now_**

This world....this place I've walked for so long, some of it....I can hardly   
believe even now. The miracles, the impossibilities, the knowledge of worlds   
beyond our own. Flying through a sky of iridescent blue, electrons flowing   
through my lungs when I breath instead of oxygen, and every sound going through   
my ears a digital signal of man-made creation. If there was ever a place to   
reach a new kind of Nirvana....

This life I've lived since the day I was born, it's been hard, it's been   
painful, I've seen my own blood...but...I wouldn't take any of it back. I think   
of it...as something most people can't have. A person my age...to know what I   
know, to feel what I feel...it shouldn't be possible. Back before it all   
happened I didn't care much about the world, about the people, about the   
places...just lived in the now. An adolescent without a care in the world. 

Then me and seven other people I didn't know got sucked into a place ravaged by   
the violence and war you only see on the news you never watch.

We were scared, we were crying, we wanted to go home, but...you don't always   
get what you want in life. We stayed....we stood....we fought....we lived. We   
saw the dark sides of a living soul, and the shadows of our own spirits deep   
inside. We learned what evil really was, what it truly meant, and what it truly felt   
like. We also learned what courage, friendship, love, purity, knowledge, faith,   
hope and light were all about. We saw death in front of our eyes, we felt the   
hopelessness of a battle we knew we would lose, we felt the despair of watching   
each other fall....

We felt the light of miracles.

We heard the song of angels, the roar of dragons, the howling of wolves, the   
fire of phoenixes, the twinkle of fairies, the rumbling of ocean beasts,   
heh...even the buzzing of giant insects.

It's all....such a beautiful thing. We finally knew...at that tender age....what   
it meant to be alive.

When we returned, we were something so much more. When we went back to our   
lives...I remember...looking around me and seeing the children play. Watching   
them laugh, watching them sing, watching be so carefree, watching them...be   
children. 

Small...naïve...children. 

Then I realized....I'm one of them....I realized....to everyone else I was   
still a child. We all felt the same thing...the same.... disorientation I guess.   
We had grown, our minds didn't fit our bodies...our souls were older.

I can't put it into words really, maybe you understand...maybe you don't.

We came together again, that one night, the night we just couldn't keep it   
inside anymore. We went back to the artificial world we thought we would leave   
behind forever. Then we sat down, and we vented. We told each other...we confided to   
each other...the new things we were feeling...the new thoughts we were   
thinking...the dreams we were having. We talked about things...that eleven year   
olds don't talk about. We talked about...our lives. ourselves, our pasts,   
presents and futures. We talked about what we felt about each other. About the   
things that stirred when we were so close together. 

We weren't children anymore, and you know what? We weren't sad about that.

Now we had the chance to view more of our lives, more than any other person   
alive, from a real perspective. To look at the world through true eyes and ears,   
to see what things really are, to understand what words truly mean. 

Now...when I speak to my...'peers'...they don't understand a word I say. They   
don't understand my feelings and philosophies anymore. Now, I used to think   
adults were...fuddy-duddies...and all those other childish words that make no   
sense. Now they're all I talk to...my mom and I, we're closer now then ever.   
Now I stay after class having idle conversation with people who at least partially  
understand the vibrations coming from my mind.

When I talk they look at me and they wonder how someone young can be so wise,   
how someone so immature can be so calm. When they look into my eyes they don't   
see a eleven-year-old girl anymore, they don't see the immature vibrant child that I   
was. They see something a little more, something a lot less mindless, they see   
someone who's been thinking about too many things at once. 

I've lived. I've learned. I've felt....so many beautiful things....so many real   
feelings. I have experienced a thing that a person my age shouldn't...couldn't.   
I've felt...I've felt... the deepest form of what I represent. The truest,   
purest, kind of love a person can feel. The thing...that can only be done...with   
someone you truly want to spend the rest of your life with.

That night...in the digital world. When we came together...when we told each   
other...what we felt when we were together...

I can't...it was so... Words can't fathom what it felt like. Today, I wonder how   
humanity can take something like that for granted, how we can simply use it so   
frivolously.

We came closer together than anyone our age could. We showed each other just how   
much we meant to each other. During the times of chaos and violence we watched   
other, protected each other, saved each other, fought and killed for each other.   
We took all of that, all of feelings, all of our faith, and...well...I don't   
think my crest ever glowed brighter than it did that night.

That single night that I will never forget.

Looking up at the stars, with the people I love more than any world out there.  


_To Be Continued................_

Author's Notes:

1). Now I understand that the above won't make much sense. There are alot of things that go unexplained. I assure you everything will be made clear as the story progresses.

2). Hmmmmm......well.........uhhh...........bonus points if you can guess whose thought patterns are portrayed in this chapter.

3). C&C is highly valued and archived for later reference.


	2. Bleed (Preview)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Digimon in any way, shape, or form. It is the sole   
property of its respective owners and creators.  
  
  
IMPORTANT: Read Author's Notes at end of chapter for important information.  
  
Mini-Note: I have been neglecting this story for faaar too long. So I thought I   
would put this up so people would not think it was dead. ENJOY!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Arc 1: Rebirth of the Nightmares  
  
  
Chapter 1: Bleed  
  
  
  
The rain fell with a melodious and soothing rhythm. Droplets of water that were   
not composed of hydrogen and oxygen, but compressed data given form. The tears   
of heaven turned the skies a somber gray and saturated the land in there life-  
giving purity.   
  
Atop a majestic cliff overlooking an ocean whose expanse has no end, a single   
solitary soul sits. Amidst the sounds of crashing waves, droplets meeting the   
ocean, and currents of wind flowing through a sea of air she simply lays there,   
staring at the relic of a past that is not long forgotten.   
  
She stared longingly at the lifeless crest in her hand. It was the symbol of   
what they were, of the legend that spawned them, of the great task they were   
sired to complete. Ever since that Day of Judgment, when the great God of   
Destruction emerged from his prison from beyond the firewall, the day they   
became saviors for an entire world; their crests have been dead. The light they   
should have shined was forever gone, the power they had given them left when   
Apocalymon was damned to whatever hell the digital world had.   
  
"But...it glowed once...," She whispered to know one but herself. "Brighter than   
I'd ever seen it..."  
  
The memory of her arrival was nothing more than a hazened blur in the recesses   
of her mind. She remembered...wanting to get away. She remembered her mind   
feeling more jumbled than it had ever been, clogged with new thoughts,   
understandings and feelings she had never felt before.  
  
She wanted to scream. Scream until her lungs exploded and her brain was quiet   
again.  
  
Then, she was here. Her memory was not permitting her to see what happened, how   
it happened, or when. She just knew...she was here. She was here, along with the   
rest. All seven, with the same mystified confusion on their faces. She could   
have sworn it was all a dream...it just...did not seem real. The things everyone   
was saying, the pent-up...everything...they were finally releasing, it all felt   
like something her own consciousness was trying to tell her.   
  
Then the sun settled down across the horizon, painting the sky with streaks of   
orange and red. The stars appeared, peeking out from their blanket of   
everlasting night. Then finally, the moon, the midnight sun shining its pale   
luminescence across the world.  
  
What had happened to them, she did not know. What was driving them, she had no   
idea. Would she do it again, yes she would.  
  
When the nightfall came, and there were no more words to say, everyone felt that   
there was still so much more unsaid; so many things that could not be put into   
words. So...they did what they all somehow knew was right, they did what few   
people have a full understanding of.  
  
That is when her crest glowed that one time, it shined like a burning star on   
earth, seemingly lighting the entire continent.   
  
She knew it could not have been a dream. It was all so real, so vivid, so pure.   
The intensity of it...was more than anything else she had felt in her eleven   
years of living.  
  
  
  
The sound of footsteps broke her out of her reverie. She clasped her hand around   
the crest as the person sat down next to her and her eyes moved toward the   
horizon beyond the ocean vastness.  
  
"Hard to believe huh," Sora whispered. "I'm still...I still have trouble   
believing what..."  
  
A hand reaching over to her cheek interrupted her words. Her head was slowly   
turned to look into a pair of orange-red eyes and she saw something swirling   
within the liquid depths. What was once a vacant stare at times now contained   
something enlightened, something released. Mimi's fingers moved across her face   
gradually, feeling every curve and contour that could be felt. They moved across   
her cheek, her nose, her lips, all the while Mimi's eyes containing a   
questioning look. A look of curiosity that was not child-like, but something   
deeper, something that questioned whether what she was feeling was actually   
there.   
  
She moved closer, her eyes constantly moving and taking in everything they   
possibly could. She eventually came so close that Sora could feel her breath   
against her skin. Then, in what felt like an electric shock through Sora's body,   
their lips came together. Neither one of them imagined they would be doing it,   
yes they had been close friends in the digital world, but it was natural since   
they were the only girls on the team for a good while. When they returned   
however, they found themselves talking less and less, slowly gravitating away   
from each other. That all changed in the span of that single night.  
  
Sora had always known her to be ditz, someone not totally aware of the world   
around her at instances, but that person had died a slow and painful death.   
Whether Mimi had kept that part of her as a façade or if it was truly genuine   
was unknown to Sora. All she knew was that she saw a side of the blonde that she   
had no idea existed, and she hoped to God the old one would stay dead and buried   
for all eternity.  
  
"You...you are real aren't you...," Mimi murmured as she pulled away only a   
scarce few centimeters and narrowed her eyes. "This...isn't a dream...is it?"  
  
"No...it's not...I realize that now," Sora could not pull her eyes away from the   
fiery orange depths. "I'm pretty sure I'm lucid right now."  
  
Mimi rested her forehead against Sora's shoulder. Their arms came around each   
other and brought them closer.  
  
"I...I'm...going away for a while," Sora finally admitted. "I...think everyone   
else is gonna do the same. I don't know how I know...but I think...we all need   
to separate for a good...long...while."  
  
"Where...will you go?" Mimi asked, not raising her head.  
  
"I have no idea...," She sighed. "I'm thinking about looking for Biyomon...but I   
have no idea where to start looking."  
  
"The digital world looks exactly the same, but I thought...it was supposed to be   
reformatting." Mimi said in sound confusion. "How...can we be here?"  
  
"I wish I could tell you," Sora looked to her wrist at the watch she carried.   
"The time distortion...is the same as well, but I could've sworn I heard Gennai   
saying that it was normal just before we left. He had no reason to lie,   
so...could he have been wrong?"  
  
They were both silent. The questions were coming but no answers were following,   
and it was beginning to become pointless to ask anymore.  
  
"I'm just...going to pick a direction...and go," Sora explained. "I...want you   
to come with me."  
  
"Isn't...this something you should do alone?" She asked, but Sora could hear the   
uncertainty in her voice.  
  
"Yeah...maybe," Sora smiled inwardly. "But...you've changed...we all have, and I   
like this new you. I...want to get to know it better. And, I admit, I don't   
really enjoy being alone, and I know you don't either."  
  
"How long will you be gone...?," Sora did take notice of the word 'you' instead   
of 'we'.  
  
"Weeks, months...years maybe," Sora shook her head in indecision. "At   
least...with the time distortion still here...it won't seem like much time at   
all in the real world."  
  
"You think the others will be gone that long?"  
  
"Maybe. For as long as it takes for us to find...whatever it is we're looking   
for." She moved her head to stare at the gray sky. "Whatever it is this place   
has done to us...I'm truly thankful for it. It's given us a clarity and an   
understanding of things that we wouldn't have for years, and I want to use it as   
much as possible."  
  
Mimi released her after a moment and stood up silently. She walked to the very   
edge of the cliff, watching the waves and the chaos of the ocean.  
  
"I used to be so scared of the rain," Mimi whispered as she ran a hand through   
her hair and pushed the damp strands from her face. "Now...it seems so trivial.   
Why would I be afraid of getting wet? It used to know the answer...but now...it   
just isn't worth saying anymore. It never was..."  
  
Sora simply watched in quiet observation at this new person speaking. She was so   
different from the old Mimi she knew not more than three months ago.   
  
"When do we leave?"  
  
The comment quite blissfully knocked Sora out of her staring.  
  
"Anytime...right now I guess."  
  
Mimi took the crest that was hanging from a necklace in her hand. She stared at   
it with the same intensive stare as Sora did hers.   
  
"Right now...sounds perfect," She turned and smiled. "It'll be nice to see   
Palmon again."  
  
  
*~*  
  
  
That was eight months ago.   
  
Such a vivid memory in my mind...yet I can't imagine remembering anything else.   
So much time traveling a world that looks so different...yet has remained the   
same. I suppose my viewpoint has changed from that first time. Back then all we   
wanted to do was go home, to get away from a world inhabited by bloodthirsty   
monsters. Now...I guess now we're actually taking the time to see what we   
missed. 


End file.
